I remain unashamed by my musical tastes but there is a quirk in there which has recently surfaced. Regardless of the genre into which they are dragged, I do have a love of cover versions. At the moment Mark Ronson’s album, Version, seems to float to the top of my playlist. The reworking on Toxic, originally by Britney Spears, a favourite, closely followed by a version of one of my favourite Radiohead tracks, Just.

Previously, cover versions were the remit of live acts and the occasional B-Side. However, in the past few years, and this may just be because I’m starting to notice them, there have been a spate of entire albums of cover versions. Particularly of note are the Nouvelle Vague albums, taking punk tracks and reworking them into lounge acts with a little sprinkling of je ne sais quois, and the Johnny Cash American Recordings albums.

But what is the appeal?

For me it’s similar to hearing a track played live, hearing, sometimes for the first time, a distinct nuance or the use of a specific instrument. Such things are sometimes only revealed during a live gig, with the sound mix adjusted and the volume playing a significant part, or perhaps the arrangement is different, there are a variety of reasons I guess.

It’s not a new phenomenon, for sure. Check out Siouxsie and the Banshees’ album Through The Looking Glass, which includes their excellent cover of This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us (originally by the excellent Mael brothers). Their splendid cover of the Beatles’ Dear Prudence is also a personal favourite.

I can see the question mark – some sort of avatar/gravatar on the right hand side. Some people have black silhouetted heads and others have question marks. Lyle as a picture of a couple dancing. When you hover over it, it says “Click my picture to see my profile, favourite sites and more!”

I think they’ve fallen out of favour a bit for being a bit too nice, but I still think Travis’ cover of Britney Spears’ “Hit me baby one more time” (or whatever the correct title for that song is) is one of the best evar.

Oh, I’m late, but I’m with Lyle on Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt. Generally I loathe covers though, and that Mark Ronson album’s top of my hate list. (That said, I saw We Are Scientists doing a couple of fab covers last year, including Boyz II Men’s End of the Road, and they were absolutely fantastic.

I like covers that offer a completely different perspective on the song, such as the Scissor Sisters’ version of “Comfortably Numb”. I hate indie bands trying to cover r&b tracks “ironically”, but I’ll make an exception for The Automatic’s live version of Kanye West’s “Gold Digger”…. oh, and I’ve just remembered Cocorosie’s stunning subversion of Akon & Snoop’s “I Wanna Love You”.